St. Augustine boys run past Menendez, 67-51

District, non-district, Lamar Berk doesn’t need the Florida High School Athletic Association to tell him what a big game is.

Neither does the rest of St. Johns County.

In front of the usual healthy crowd at Menendez, Berk and his St. Augustine boys basketball teammates earned a 67-51 victory over the Falcons on Friday night. And it was every bit as satisfying as when the matchup counted in the district standings.

“It’s a good rivalry,” said Berk, a senior forward who finished with 16 rebounds and 11 points.

“We’ve been playing with them all our lives. This is just as intense as a district game.”

The Yellow Jackets (15-6) were coming off a big win Thursday night against District 4-6A opponent Atlantic Coast, but they still played with the energy this rivalry has been famous for.

SAHS forward Richard Bryson scored seven of his game-high 18 points in the second quarter to help the Yellow Jackets surge to a double-digit advantage.

A big 3-pointer by Nick Stultz at the buzzer gave the Jackets a 36-22 lead at halftime, and Menendez (7-11) never could get the deficit back under 10 points.

“It’s a big game and our guys treat it that way,” SAHS coach Tim Winter said. “I was very happy with the effort.”

The Jackets were on the verge of turning the game into a runaway in the third quarter before Menendez found a way to climb back into contention.

Lionel Robinson, who scored 11 for SAHS, tossed in a 3-pointer that gave his team a 45-25 lead just two minutes into the third period. A tip-in by Bryson made it a 22-point cushion two minutes later.

That wasn’t the end, though.

Early in the fourth quarter, Dee Flagler, who led the Falcons with 16 points, made a layup. And Anthony Gomez hit a pair of free throws after drawing the fifth foul from Berk.

That cut the advantage to 52-40 with 5:26 remaining.

Later in the period, Josh Pagliei hit his third 3-pointer of the night and then made 1 of 2 from the free throw line to make it 55-44 with a little more than three minutes to play.

To that point, Menendez had limited SAHS to just two field goals in the quarter and clearly had the momentum.

“Playing from behind, they got after it pretty good,” Menendez coach Steve Melgard said of his team.

“We just need a few more shots to fall.”

They could have used one key shot from SAHS to not fall.

Instead, Robinson sank a 3-pointer from the corner that boosted the Jackets’ lead to 58-44 with 2:37 on the clock.

It seemed to take some of the energy out of Menendez’s comeback attempt and started an 11-0 run that sealed a SAHS victory.

The win was a big one for SAHS, which is trying to close strongly after taking three straight losses prior to Thursday’s game at Atlantic Coast.

“That’s really what’s important,” Winter said. “Now is the time to get that momentum rolling.”

Melgard would like to see the same thing for his squad. He thinks the Falcons can be a factor in the District 4-5A tournament next month.

“I’m not looking ahead to next year,” Melgard said. “I still want to be good this year.